1970 Plymouth Road Runner - Fixed In The Family

When people decide to build tribute cars, they often set out to find a nice pedestrian body style and convert it up to performance level trim. An upgrade is what happened with this particular Road Runner, though perhaps not in the way that you might think. John and Marsey Jancic had actually spent time looking for a nice 1970 version of the legendary Plymouth, and settled on one that had already ‘been done’ out of Texas.

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“We found the car on eBay, and bought two round-trip plane tickets to Dallas, Texas, to go look at it,” recalls John now. “There was about a two-hour drive out to where the car was at. It looked and felt right, so we agreed on a fair price, and had it transported back to our home in North Carolina.”

John’s company, Mid State Metals of the Carolinas LLC, is in the heart of NASCAR country, and several of his display buildings host his collection of both vintage and modern iron, mainly Chryslers. The car he and Marsey bought was a Hemi Orange, non-numbers-matching 440-Six Barrel Air Grabber car, with a 727 and an 83⁄4 Sure Grip differential. It assuaged the desire for a 1970 model due to its B-Body styling and options, and fit the bill until they took it and another car, a ’69 383 Road Runner convertible, out for a weekend drive. Marsey was in the ’70.

It's 472 inches of stock-looking Hemi fury. Good thing the transmission and rear end were upgraded.

“We were on a Cruising for Christ club tour, and during the run home, a fuel line split and sprayed gasoline all over the passenger side of the engine bay,” says John. “I had not known it until then, but the bay had been painted with spray can paint, and it made a huge mess; the gas stripped the paint right off. I was just thanking the Good Lord there had not been a fire, because Marsey was driving, and we did not know there was even a problem until we got home.”

John admits for about five months, he would open the hood, get disgusted, and have to walk away from the carnage. He finally decided the only fix was to pull the engine and transmission and do it right, and his sons John Jr. and Tim were all in to help out. However, even more issues became visible once the driveline was out, and John decided to take the full plunge, and put the car on a rotisserie. He and the boys also decided it was time to make it into a dream car.

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After all, as part of their high school graduation requirements, they needed a senior project, and restifying this Road Runner was a perfect one. The 440 would not be going back in; instead, John went to Empire Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep in Wilkesboro, and bought a 472-inch Mopar Performance crate Hemi. The idea would be to make it look stock, and the only visible change is a set of tti headers. The rest of the driveline was also upgraded; Skip’s Auto reworked a 727 for the increased power, and John opted for a date-correct Sure Grip-equipped Dana 60. However, all that would be a little down the road, as other issues came up.

The ’70 had been completely disassembled; even the dash came apart, and every problem was addressed, including weak metal in several places. New steel from AMD allowed them to replace the floor pans, trunk floor, and lower quarters--and get rid of the previous bodywork--and everything remaining was carefully massaged. Final prep was done by the boys and friend Shane Binkley, taking weeks to do the block sanding. The finished shell was then shot right at the Jancic’s shop by Binkley, who used a Valspar Z-Base Hemi Orange blended with just a touch of extra red for the final base/clear package. Indeed, Binkley is the one John selected to drive the car when we took our photos. A month later, this car won Best of Show at the Piedmont Mopars club show at Farmington, North Carolina.

This was the first car the family had ever tackled from the ground up. Working in John’s well-equipped shop, the boys were doing most of the work themselves in the evenings after school and work responsibilities were done, keeping their teachers abreast of the level of effort going into the project. Having started during Thanksgiving break of 2009, the final screws and bright work were added in early June 2010, with John Jr. and Tim succeeding in completing it for their high school requirements, which all agreed was the ‘coolest’ in recent memory.

Finding a real 1970 Hemi Road Runner is not impossible (total ’70 Road Runner production = 75 hardtops, 74 coupes, three convertibles and 135 Superbirds --Ed.), and John’s business has been successful enough that he could likely afford one. What the Jancic family acquired instead was a batch of treasured memories and a finished car they know is done right.

“The Road Runner gave the boys a chance to appreciate all kinds of cars and see what goes into a proper restoration, plus it allowed them to get their graduation stuff done,” says John in conclusion. “Of all the ’68-’74 muscle cars we have, this will be the last one we ever sell or pass down to somebody else; it’s that special.”

Engine: While the 440 Six Barrel was strong, the Jancics did not have a Hemi musclecar in their collection, and this was a perfect solution. John opted for a ready-to-go package, and talked with Tim Harrold at Wilkesboro’s Empire Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep, who ordered him a 500-hp 472-inch crate Hemi right from Mopar Performance. To this was added the right details for a stock 1970 426 Hemi from Mancini Racing, with the only serious change from stock being a set of tti headers.

Transmission: This car was a factory TorqueFlite machine, and John left the automatic in place, having Skip Martin of Skip’s Transmission rework the 727’s internals for the big-inch environment and add a 2,800 stall converter.

Differential: The factory 83⁄4 with Sure-Grip was plenty strong, but the car now hosts a 1970-era Dana 60 with a 4.10 gear.

Horsepower and Performance: No track time on this one, but we imagine you’d run out of racetrack before you’d run out of motor.

Sure Grip

Suspension: Rebuilt to stock specs.

Brakes: Power front disc, rear drum layout.

Wheels: Again, in keeping with the Hemi heritage, 15-inch Rallye wheels were put on all four corners, with resto rubber.

High Impact

Body: It looked nice, but proved to be only skin deep, so fresh AMD pieces were added by John Jr. and Tim to replace weak metal, and Shane Binkley took 15 days to prep the body for paint. All the cool Road Runner stuff was already on there; John just had to find that rear-facing Hemi hood blister badge.

Paint: Valspar Z-Base came from Trucolors, a custom blend of Hemi Orange with a little red added for flair; Binkley laid the pigment down in a homemade paint booth.